This is what it’s like to be undocumented and uninsured

Betty Marquez will be exploring issues of environmental racism in southeast Los Angeles and its effects on the area’s residents. Having been raised in Bell, California with little access to the outdoors, she is passionate about claiming space for women of color through her hiking, backpacking, and traveling adventures. She is currently a teaching assistant at an elementary school where she interacts with brilliant first graders on a daily basis. Betty holds a degree in feminist studies from UC Santa Barbara.

Cecilia Chavez is the fifth child of immigrant parents who fled the harsh conditions of their hometown in Mexico in 1995 searching for a better future. Since then she has called East San Jose home. She received her bachelor’s degree in justice studies San Jose State University and is completing her last semester in a master’s program in the Mexican American Studies department, also at San Jose State. On top of being a mother and wife she also balances her role as lead Bay Area Coordinator of Participatory Defense in her work with Silicon Valley De-Bug, a local nonprofit, where she organizes and supports families who are impacted by the criminal justice system. Her ambition in life is to be an attorney to properly address and bring to light the collateral damages that families face in the court process. Through her work she has been able to identify the different impacts that the criminal system has on communities of color and works on a daily basis to address them. As a fellow she plans to raise the visibility of the community health issues she confronts on a daily basis through her advocacy work.

Michelle Zenarosa is the project coordinator and co-editor of the Rise Up: Be Heard journalism fellowship at Fusion.